Laserglow Vega->Severe divergence problem.

drlava said:

for the collimation, find the farthest point away from you (30 ft +) and adjust for minimum dot size. You may find that this causes a beam waist, and if it does, back off just slightly for optimal infinity divergence, or keep the waist if you prefer.

Click to expand...

Can you explain the term "beam waist" please. I haven't heard of it before.

Razako said:

[quote author=drlava link=1204752838/30#30 date=1205188920]for the collimation, find the farthest point away from you (30 ft +) and adjust for minimum dot size. You may find that this causes a beam waist, and if it does, back off just slightly for optimal infinity divergence, or keep the waist if you prefer.

Click to expand...

Can you explain the term "beam waist" please. I haven't heard of it before.[/quote]

The waist is the part on a laser beam and (usually) a person that gets thinner, then wider. It's the convergence point you referred to.

drlava said:

[quote author=Razako link=1204752838/30#32 date=1205189208][quote author=drlava link=1204752838/30#30 date=1205188920]for the collimation, find the farthest point away from you (30 ft +) and adjust for minimum dot size. You may find that this causes a beam waist, and if it does, back off just slightly for optimal infinity divergence, or keep the waist if you prefer.

Click to expand...

Can you explain the term "beam waist" please. I haven't heard of it before.[/quote]

The waist is the part on a laser beam and (usually) a person that gets thinner, then wider. It's the convergence point you referred to.[/quote]
ok thanks I understand now.

I now have it nearly fixed. The divergence basically matches that of my lyra +/- 10% and it beats several of my other lasers. All I need to do now is perform a long range test to see how the dot looks at 40+ feet. After that I can stick the plate permanently in place with some epoxy, put the laser back together and call it fixed.

Great Razako! I had hopes you would be able to get it adjusted very well. I am looking forward to seeing pics! All The Best! -Glenn

ok I have adjusted it as well as I possibly can and it is completely put back together. I'll post some pics of the finished job in around 6 hours when the epoxy has hardened. The final divergence is slightly worse than my lyra and slightly better than my Aries-35. It also beats most of my cheap dealextreme lasers.

It doesn't have any "wings" or other easily noticeable beam problems either.

Thanks to Justin for the instructions.

good to hear you got it fixed ;D ;D

I guess I'll post some pics of the lasers innards while waiting....
Here is a picture of the collimating plate that caused this whole problem. It had only been held in place with 2 TINY dots of glue. During shipping it broke lose and it had moved into the wrong place.

Note to laserglow manufacturer. Use more glue on important parts of laser :

The second pic shows what it looks like with the head taken off.

Hey, good to hear that the surgery was a success! We'll be talking to the manufacturer about using more epoxy for such a sensitive component. On the upside, now everyone has detailed instructions on adjusting the divergence on these lasers and you can probably help them through the process.

Note to everyone else: While I authorized Razako to perform this operation without voiding his warranty, opening and adjusting your Laserglow laser in any way without pre-authorization will certainly void YOUR warranty. If you want to do this to one of our lasers which is still under warranty, PLEASE call or email me first to discuss it. I don't want to be the guy to tell you that you messed up your laser and it's not covered! That's a bad conversation to have.

Bravo Razako! Good to hear that it's been fixed. I guess you can breathe a bit easier now.

While you're around Justin, would you have any informed ideas on what could be causing the "wings" seen in my pic earlier in this thread? Should I be trying this surgery as well, if only to clean the internal optics? (using a gentle LensPen of course) Or should I drop by to have one of your techs look at it?

Cheers, CC